Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits Manchester United gave Newcastle United fans 'something to cheer' so it was 'impossible' for him to pass on the instructions his players needed to cut out the counter-attack which culminated in Matty Longstaff's winner.
The official attendance for Sunday's game was 51,198, which was the biggest crowd at St James' Park this season, and Newcastle certainly gave their fans a performance to be proud of in the 1-0 win.
From the first minute, the Longstaff brothers set the tone for Newcastle's press in the middle of the park and with Allan Saint-Maximin fit and back involved, the Magpies carried a threat on the counter as they put their Leicester nightmare behind them.
On 72 minutes, Newcastle made the breakthrough when Matty Longstaff fired home from just outside the area following a rapid, 20-second breakaway from a Manchester United corner.
Solskjaer had repeatedly attempted to get the attention of his players, including Fred and Scott McTominay, in an attempt to cut out the Magpies' threat on the counter but admitted he found it hard to get his message across.
"We weren't set up for the counter-attack. We conceded at least two goals - Everton away and Wolves away - on our own corners. Maybe two against Everton in one game and that shouldn't happen," the Norwegian told reporters after the game.
"With the pace we've got, we should lock that corner down but it's impossible to get the message across because we gave the Newcastle fans something to cheer today. We gave them the game they wanted - end to end at times. We gave them too many counter-attacks.
"That lifted their crowd. You could see they were behind the team, behind Brucey so it was impossible for me to put one or two of the players where they should have been."
